


Linger

by quicksparrows



Series: Side by Side – Chrobin [7]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-20 10:51:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11919360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quicksparrows/pseuds/quicksparrows
Summary: Getting on the same page isn't always easy.





	Linger

**Author's Note:**

> A flip side to What We Are.
> 
> Sorry it's been quiet around here. I've been working overtime all summer. Also, [I'm now on a public twitter!](https://twitter.com/quicksparrows)

.

 

 

Chrom exhales deeply. 

A calm settles on him, an ease that makes the whole room seem to come into focus, even though his heart is still pounding. Ada's fingers are still on him, laced through his hair. Just the touch of her fingertips is relaxing, even as she ruffles his hair in the wrong direction. They've had fingers all over each other all afternoon but he thinks he'd still like to touch more of her. It never feels like quite enough. They used to romp and move on, didn't they? 

It's so good to just _linger_. 

"Chrom," she murmurs.

He props himself up on an elbow, an arm still hooked under her thigh. 

"Yeah," he says. "You okay?"

"Better than!" she says, and when she withdraws from his scalp he misses her touch. Ada brings a wrist to her forehead, a silent laugh on her breath.

"Good," he says.

Chrom trails his fingers down her hip, over the jut of bone to the suppleness of thigh. She chuckles, languid and easy. The crotch of her underwear is still brushed aside, caught on the mound of her pubic bone, revealing all the glory of cropped hair and reddened, glistening skin. She inhales deeply and he watches that breath ripple down to the bowl of her hips; when she shifts under his caress, comfortable as can be, a smear of his come slides wetly down her inner leg, puddling where it falls. 

That image is going to glue itself to his brain for the next week, sticky-sweet, making those long days in the saddle feel even longer.

"C'mere," she murmurs, and he crawls up to lay with her. She turns to cuddle against him, forehead against his bicep. 

For a moment they both catch their breaths, and he watches the bliss on her face settle. Her eyes flick to him. He smiles, too.

"Hey, love?" Chrom says. He startles himself with it — _love?_ — but even if she notices, she doesn't seem to ponder it. He feels the heat rise on his face anyway. He's never let that kind of pet talk slip before. 

(It feels right, regardless.)

"Yeah?" she replies.

Chrom swallows his breath and shifts slightly to better face her.

"I'm glad we have this," he says. He brushes her hair from her face. "I don't know what we'd be otherwise."

"Not nearly as adventurous," Ada replies.

Chrom snorts.

"No!" he chuckles. "But you know what I mean."

"I know," she says. She cozies in again, a hand drifting to his cock and gently stroking — almost petting. It sends heat clear down his body, pulsing even in the sensitive aftermath. "I'm glad, too."

Love, he thinks again. Whoops.

"I like how we are together," he says.

Her hand withdraws again and she just watches him. This close, her eyelashes are pale, barely shading her eyes. She seems to drift away into thought, and then she comes back, a little sober:

"I don't mind this time, but we should be careful not to slip up, hm? If you want things to stay like this."

"Right," he says. "I like things this way."

"Good," she says, and whatever else she might say vanishes. Maybe a _me too_ , but Chrom isn't sure if that's what either of them are thinking, or even want. Maybe it's just what he wants.

There's a beat of silence, almost awkward. Chrom feels it dig into his conscience too quickly, and so he sits up and reaches for a cloth. Ada just rolls over again onto her back. He sees the twitch of her throat when she swallows her breath, but he busies himself with wiping both of them up.

"Thanks," Ada says, as he drags the damp cloth between her thighs, swiping away the sticky mess they'd made. "For a minute I thought you didn't even notice."

"I did," he says. "I didn't know if _you_ did."

She raises an eyebrow at him.

"How could I _not_ notice?"

Something occurs to him.

"Not notice what?" he asks.

Ada frowns, and she props herself up on her elbows. She studies his face like he might be oblivious in some way, and for a second he thinks he's the most oblivious person on the planet. When he doesn't clue in, she sits up even further.

"You didn't pull out," she says.

"Oh," he says, and he feels a paradoxical sort of relief. Alright. He didn't pull out. That's fair.

"What did you think I meant?" she asks.

"Uh," Chrom stalls, but there is no stalling. "I called you love. I thought that—"

He cuts himself off. His face feels like it must be beet red, and that flush intensifies when she looks at him completely nonplussed. What does he even want to see there? A swift rejoinder, something about how he shouldn't be surprised, isn't it obvious? _Love?_

"Oh, yeah," Ada says. "Well, that too."

Chrom feels a deep sense of disappointment. It's almost blindsiding, how much he wants her to say something more in that moment. Something like: _it's okay. I liked it. Love._

"Does it bother you?" he asks.

"No," she says, but that's all she says.

"Okay," he says. He feels like he has to pry _: Are you sure?_

He knows she wouldn't like that, though, So instead he just lays with her, and she lays in his arms. Ada drapes a thigh across him like she'd love to be closer, the curve of her foot catching on his calf. She holds him like she wants him, doesn't she? Chrom isn't sure. 

He isn't sure at all.


End file.
